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28-Mar-2004 -- It was a gloomy morning as I biked along the highway from Freire towards Teodoro Schmidt. Both before and after a bend in the road the GPS showed the confluence to be at right angles to my path, to the south and then southeast of the road, at a distance of 1.49 miles. Several dirt roads started in the right direction. I chose one, biked about a half mile, and came to a locked gate.

An opening into a mown hayfield allowed me to bike a bit closer. When I was stopped by a group of trees I decided to hoof it the rest of the way. I left my bike guarded by a group of curious cows, marked its position, and began walking the remaining 1.12 miles.

Whenever I crossed a fence I’d mark a waypoint, because I could see that it would be easy for me to lose my bicycle. Walking along one fence line was a woman whom I engaged in conversation. I explained the nature of my goal, and asked if she saw any problem in my walking across the fields. She said that my proposed path would take me across land owned by several different individuals, but assured me that there was “no problema”, so I kept going.

I obviously was seen by a group of seven men at a barn, so I approached them, wished them a good day, and proceeded to try to explain (using my limited Spanish language skills) my reason for trying to reach this geographical point. “It is a game”, I said in conclusion, and the players like me are “un poco loco”. To my dismay, seven heads nodded in agreement. Fortunately, eccentricities are tolerated around here, and they assured me that nobody would object to my presence. But they asked why I didn’t take the road to their barn, which would have saved me over a mile of walking

After climbing over a few more fences, at noon I came to a meadow that was the home of the confluence. A dilapidated abandoned building lay 200 feet to the south. The only witnesses to my arrival at S39 W73 were some pigs that scurried to a corner of the field. Reaching the confluence removed the gloom from the day.